The maddening, frantic search for a new Gig continues. I have take an occasional break to write some dribble so I don't go insane.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

The garden is growing

My new favorite hobby is Gardening, or as I like to say Urban Farming.
My garden seems to be doing well now. Last month I had several plants which appeared on the verge of death. This was entirely due user error. This being the first time I have had a garden; I made many mistakes which seem obvious now. I probably should have read some gardening blogs or asked my grandma before planting things, but I didn't. I put many plants in containers that were too small. I also put some plants, tomatoes and peppers, together in containers. Apparently it is common knowledge that tomatoes will commit herbicide on any neighbors, I didn’t know.
Also, I did not understand how important cages are to the health of tomato plants. Seems like tomatoes evolved wrong if they need me to prop them up to grow right. I have since relocated most my plants into their own 99 cent store buckets. I have also put cages around the cherry and Roma tomatoes. Early on, one of the Roma’s looked near death, so I put it upside down in an empty 2 liter bottle. Everyone has seen the commercials for the “topsy turvy” tomato thing. (Call now with your credit card!) The 2 liter seems to be working just fine! There is a picture of the MacGuyver upside down planter below.
Mainly I have a lot of peppers: 1 Anaheim, 1 Poblano, 1 Tabasco, 2 round Chile pepper plants, possibly of the “hot tomato” variety. Whatever they are, I will have a ton of them soon. I also have 1 Habanero. The Habanero was not growing until he got his own space. Since then it has sprouted loads of green peppers. I can't wait to make some insanely hot salsa!
My new favorite thing to do is to take a small tomato and a Basil leaf and shove them both in my mouth, instant appetizer!(Amuse-bouche if you watch Top Chef)
Yesterday, we picked the ripe Poblanos and my wife made Chile Rellenos out of them. Gardening is fun! Check out the pic! You may have to scroll down a bit to see it.